Today we’d like to introduce you to Clay Johnson.
Hi Clay, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
So, I spent most of my childhood wanting to play the guitar. My grandfather was a bass player in the church and always had various concerts or performances playing on the TV throughout my youngest years. Probably my favorite way to play as a kid was to pull out my toy guitar, put my toy microphone on a stand, and “perform” along with those concerts on TV, underneath the lights of the fireplace mantel in my Nanny and Poppy’s trailer. They were very supportive of that and thought it was cute. There’s a picture of it somewhere on my socials; 90’s Oshkosh-bagosh overalls and all. Cute kid I was. Still not sure what happened.
However, it wasn’t until I was around 13 years old that I finally got my first guitar and started to teach myself to play and to sing. I was about 12 years old when I saw Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers perform the Super Bowl half time show and I immediately looked at my parents and asked who he was and upon them telling me that he was Tom Petty, I told them that I wanted to be him; and I really did, he’s still my hero to this day. Didn’t even care about watching the Saints and Colts play the rest of the game, all that mattered to me was watching Tom and the boys and hearing the opening D chord of “American Girl” blasting through the TV speakers.
So anyways, from there, I used my Eagle Scout money to buy my first Epiphone acoustic guitar (it was a cheap POS, but got was good enough for me) and started teaching myself to play. We couldn’t afford lessons, so it was all on me to teach myself and I worked so hard day after day alone in my bedroom after school doing so. First song I ever learned was “Free Falling” (there’s still a video of me playing it on the day i learned it back in 2008 somewhere in the deep depths of Youtube and my little brother, Ben, is miming on a Guitar Hero controller behind me. It’s hilarious.) and I even had to make my own Capo out of a metal coat hanger to learn it in its proper key. I was an adamant kid. That was the start.
Through the years I continued playing, learning, and teaching myself to sing, to write, and to also play harmonica. I fell in love with The Beatles at about 14 and that pushed me even further onward especially into songwriting. Really and truly, I used music and songwriting as a way to process my parents’ divorce and cope with all the moving around that i had to do around that time. Did it suck at times? Yes, but it was worth it to have that guitar and play. Wouldn’t change a thing.
Flash forward to 2020; by this point I’d been working in restaurants serving and bartending and playing on the side. I’d been in and out of bands since high school and was really only doing music on the side every now and again; that was until the pandemic hit and I was out of a job and confined to my home during lockdown. I immediately then started writing heavily again and my love for Folk/Americana music, that’d I’d transitioned into playing years before, started to come into form. Once the State of SC opened back up it was a prime market for solo singer/songwriters and i was finding it easier to book gigs than ever before. One day I got called back into work. I went in, served one table, decided i was done, and i walked out the door and never looked back.
Since then, I’ve supported myself just with music. I’ve put together a band, recorded an EP, bought a 1988 Dodge Ram van, hit the road with my bandmates and played 10+ states from the southeast to the Midwest, in the last couple years and I’ve never regretted it one bit. Currently we’re recording our debut record for release in September 2025. It’s been a long road, there’s a long way to go, but i wouldn’t want to do anything else.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No road is smooth, let me tell you. There’s been fallouts and band arguments. There’s been shows with zero people in the audience. There’s been struggles to figure out the business aspect of it all and find ways to stay afloat financially, but that’s all a part of it. The struggles make you stronger. When you get to a good spot you look back on some of them and laugh. One time, during one of the band’s first summer tours, we were on the road for a weekend run up to Winston-Salem and over to the coast and back down. We were in our trusty 88 Dodge Touring van (her name is Mahgettah) and she broke down on the side of the road 2 hours out from the gig. We eventually got her to a gas station in Hickory before we decided we were best off limping her home to try and save money on the mass expense that would be towing her all the way back to Spartanburg where we live. So, we had to cancel the tour, hit the back roads, and try our best. Well, about an hour from home she blew a tire. There we were on the side of the road again, with a broken tire, no jack, and a canceled tour; broken down mechanically and internally. Luckily, we broke down in front of a house of folks who owned an auto shop directly next door, and they helped us out and we got home safe and managed to salvage at least one of the gigs that weekend. That was a big struggle, but one that you learn a lot from and look back on and laugh later on. To this day, I still have that blown tire in my back yard (laughs). Makes for a good decoration and a good reminder of what you go through to get where you’re going. Like I say in the lyrics to one of my songs (“American Folks”), “…keep on keepin’ on.”
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a musician and a singer/songwriter; maybe even really a poet at heart. I do my very best to translate my life and my life experiences into verse and song as a way to relate to people and hopefully help them through their hardships, the same way my heros and favorite musicians got me through mine. I’m most proud of the fact that this is what I do for a living and how I pay my bills and feed my dog. I’m proud that people like my songs and come to my shows and that my bandmates trust me enough to follow me through this crazy journey towards a dream. I don’t really know what sets me apart from anyone, other than I’m just a wild and tenacious redhead out here with a dream and a belief that the only ones who make it are those who are crazy enough to keep trying. I don’t know if there’s really anything I’m know for outside of my own local circles; other than our dumb catch phrase, “Yes-Haw” that’s on all our merch (that’s a story for another day and maybe a social media video too), but people have been catching on at shows and yelling it back at us so that’s fun. Remember kids, yee-hawin’ is fun, but yes-hawin’ is a lifestyle. But yeah, that’s me in a chaotic little nutshell. Life is short, the world can be mean, chase your dreams and go have fun doing it with your friends; just remember to check your tire pressure before you limp your broken van all the way back home.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Best way to start is follow me on social media; Instagram, Facebook, Ticky-Toks, and all that other jazz. I have ones for myself, Clay Johnson, and ones for my band, Clay Johnson & the Hard Promises. If you start there, you can get an idea of what it is I do, who I am, and what I’m about. You can also see when and where I’m playing and start coming to shows. Once you come to a show, then you really see what the gang and I are about. It’s a good time. Stream the music, buy some merch, keep up with the socials, and come throw down with us at a show; be it at home or on the road.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://clayjohnsonmusic.com/home
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rclayjohnsonjr/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClayJohnsonMusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@clayjohnsonandthehardpromises
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/clayjohnsonandthehardpromises/
